But before investors can return to those risk-sensitive markets they’d shunned out of fear of the big bad taper monster in June (that is, the possible reduction in the Fed’s bond-buying program), they must ride through a 48-hour minefield of market-movable information. If we get the all-clear after that, it could be off to the races on Friday, with everything from stocks, to emerging market currencies, to commodities possibly in for a lift.

Until we get there, here’s what lies ahead:

Later Wednesday: The Federal Open Market Committee’s policy statement at 2:00 pm EDT. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke’s signals have all indicated that any decision to taper bond-buying won’t occur until the next meeting in September. However, two big questions loom large in this one. The first is whether committee members will take a more upbeat assessment of the economy because of Wednesday’s GDP and private-sector jobs dat,. The other, with opposite effect, is whether the Fed will move to lower expectations for the unemployment rate threshold at which it foresees interest rates rising in the future. Investors want to know the economy is growing but also that the Fed isn’t moving too hastily to pull back monetary accommodation. They’ll assess that via the presence or absence of these critical issues in the statement.

Thursday morning: The Bank of England and the European Central Bank both make policy decisions, followed by a press conference from ECB President Mario Draghi. Similarly with the FOMC, few expect the BOE or ECB to make any change to policy. Nonetheless, Mr. Draghi could react to a series of more upbeat European data reports by signaling that investors should give up hope for another cut in either the ECB refinance or deposit rates. That could drive the euro through the $1.33 level below which it has hovered for days and into new summer highs. More broadly, it would burnish the idea that the massive global pool of central bank-charged monetary liquidity that has underpinned markets is poised to start slowly shrinking.

Friday morning: The U.S. payrolls report at 8:30 am EDT. Always a big number, the jobs report is doubly important these days because the Fed has made it clear that the timing of its move to taper bond-buying is contingent on continued improvement in the U.S. labor market. This will be the first of two payrolls reports before the much-anticipated FOMC meeting in September. Ironically, if the number is especially strong it could spook the market into fearing a hasty Fed withdrawal. But a result in line with or just above the forecast 183,000-job increase would probably give stock-buyers a lift, all things being equal from the two prior days, and put Treasurys under selling pressure. And with all the preceding event risks removed, it could drive people into those other risky bets they’d neglected. On the other hand, of the jobs data stink, it gets more complicated. Suffice to say, Treasurys would rally.

If we can safely get to this point by Friday, markets may finally be able put to bed their taper fears.